大象传媒

Hilda was 19 years old when the war started. She lived in near Brixton with her mother and teenage sister. Her brother was 鈥渋n the services, in the army鈥�. Hilda did various war work, including manning an underground station as an Air Raid Warden, but in her spare time, she was determined that the war would not stop her having some fun:

鈥淚 used to go to the West End a lot. They used to have dances on at Leicester Square, where all the West End shows were. We used to go to dances a lot there in those days. There was a lot of dancing going on, in fact a friend of mine was killed. It was a direct hit when they were killed, one night when they were coming out of there, when it was going home time. But I used to go up the West End as often as I could. I used to love it. It never bothered me going up there, never worried me at all. I used to love it, couldn鈥檛 wait to get up there. I鈥檇 go with my friends or by myself, but mostly with friends.

We even used to line up to go to the cinema while the bombing was going on, to get the tickets to go into the cinema. It didn鈥檛 bother us. I can鈥檛 remember what the name of it was. There were bombs dropped by the side of that but there were lots and lots of other cinemas. We never let it bother us, we went and that was it. We watched all sorts, there was plays and news, anything you see in the cinema now 鈥� a review, some sort of stage show.

Then there was the London Palladium, we used to go there, line up for a ticket and think nothing of it. People use to say to me 鈥淥h are you going to take a chance sitting in there鈥�. And I used to say 鈥淵es, I am, got to die somewhere so why not there鈥�.

Everywhere was full up, tickets were still in demand. I remember seeing lots of variety shows there, lots of them, at the time there was Bebe Daniels and her husband, Ben Lyon, that鈥檚 going back now isn鈥檛 it. There were other cinema actors and actresses I saw there too. I was able to not think about the war when I was in there. When I came out it was completely gone. An odd time when we was at the Palladium, we might of heard it (the bombing) in the long distance.

I remember my friend lived in some flats and we used to climb up on top of the roof to see what we could of the bombing. We weren鈥檛 supposed to be up there. We just went up there for something to do, but we weren鈥檛 allowed up there. I was never caught though. We thought if we got into trouble (with the bombers coming over) that would just be it, and that鈥檚 it. But that鈥檚 the place we always made for. In the flats in those days they weren鈥檛, should I say, they weren鈥檛 very salubrious, they were stone stairs and stone landings. We went up the stairs and up through the roof that way. We saw lots of other people doing it too, on other rooftops, there was any amount of people 鈥� when the sirens went, practically everyone was out watching them, or trying to see something. My Mum worried about where we got to but everyone was out and that was it, sort of thing. We saw lots of places bombed, places along Clapham, Clapham Common - there was bombs dropped on the Common, fortunately there was nobody on the Common at the time.

I belonged to the Girl Guides during the war and I would go to camp with them once a year at the Isle of Wight. I went to the Isle of Wight many times camping. When I first started I went to Redhill in Surrey for weekends, and then it graduated to the Isle of Wight. We had a yearly holiday then. The Girl Guides seemed to be everywhere, doing everything. They were always doing something to help someone or other, always. They did sewing, knitting, they were always doing something anyway. It was mainly for people who had been bombed out and didn鈥檛 have much left - it went mostly to them.

I know what I want to tell you, when I was in the Girl Guides, I did a terrible thing. We were having blackberries for supper, all cooked in a big pan. And what happened was, I upset it, and there they were all over the floor, all in the gravel. So what did I do? I picked it all up and put it all in the pan again. It was me and my friend. And I said to my friend 鈥淒on鈥檛 whatever you do have any dinner today鈥�. It was terrible thing, wasn鈥檛 it, when you look back and think about it. 鈥淒on鈥檛 whatever you do have any dinner today鈥� 鈥� it was full of gravel! No-one complained, everyone was looking forward to them. And we sat there laughing whilst they was eating their dinner. And they all ate it up and never said a word. No, we was sitting there laughing, her and I, but they managed still to survive that, in the war, anyway.

It never worried me at all, I never got worried or I got upset about it, I鈥檓 more upset now thinking about it. I suspect my Mother knew some of the things I got up to, probably got fed up with telling me off I expect".

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Sarah Shires of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Hilda Jenner and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understand the site's terms and conditions.

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